Specialist Nurseries - Where to Find?

[Dummie]

Hello Everyone

 

My son will be 3yrs in Dec. He was dx as autistic a few months ago and have been offered a place at a local LEA run nursery for autistic children. Unfortunately the nursery is only able to offer 2 morning sessions a week and I would very much prefer for DS to attend 5 morning sessions.

 

I've been searching the internet for privately run specialist nurseries all day but have come across nothing. Does anyone know where I can find such information?

 

Also, am I right in thinking that the gov provides funding for 3-5yr olds to access nursery education for 5x2.5hrs per week? If yes, then what happens if the nursery is not able to provide these hours like in our current situation?

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

Ivy

[Confusedmum]

Hi Ivy,

 

Personally i would go and have a look around at some of the private nuserys in your area and ask them what experiance they have working with children with SEN.

 

My daughter has Aspergers and she went to a mainstream independant nursery, they had a fantastic special need teacher, they also have 2 other children with ASD at the moment, she really loved it there, she still misses all the staff (she started school in sept).

 

Also most nursery sessions are 2.5 hours long and all 3-5 year old are entitiled to 5x2.5 hour session per week (during school term time).

 

Hope this helps.

[Tjololo]

Hi Dummie, when my son was 3yrs old, he attended an SS-run SN nursery two mornings each week as that was all that was on offer. However, this nursery became a Sure-Start nursery so he was able to attend it for more than the five 2.5hr sessions each week that the Govt funds. It was my life-saver. However, before this change occurred, I also looked at the possibility of finding additional nursery places for my son. One setting that I looked at made it clear implicitly that they didn't want my son to attend and another setting wrote and told me outright that they would not be able to meet his needs (after having seen him in action for 20 minutes). I also looked into specialist nurseries but found nothing in our area. Perhaps you could look into your son attending either a day-nursery or a mainstream pre-school? Good luck in your seach and hope you find something as two mornings each week is not much!

 

Tjololo.

[Dummie]

Thank you for your quick replies. I really appreciate it.

 

The problem is when we moved to where we are now 8mths ago I couldn't find any nursery placements whatsoever as there was such a shortage. It wasn't until my HV personally contacted a few nurseries that we were offered a place for 2xmorning sessions. Our HV did this for us based on our concerns about DS's development prior to him being dx.

 

We cancelled this mainstream nursery placement when we were told about the specialist nursery that would become available to us. We had stupidly assumed that it would be a 5day nursery place considering he so obviously needs it.

 

Do you know if this is the sort of thing that Partnership with Parents could help with? I've been given their leaflet but have not yet been in touch with them.

 

Thank you again for your help.

 

Ivy

[Confusedmum]

Hi Ivy,

 

Parent partnership may be able to offer advice re good Mainstream nurserys, but i would contact the other nursery you mensioned that you had a place at before, you never know they may still have a place available.

 

Does your area have an early years inclusion service? or better still an ASD teaching team. Ifso maybe they could advice you on nurserys in your area.

 

However you may also find that just 2 mornings a week will be enough for your son for the time being, My DD started off with just 2 mornings and i gradually increased this to 4 mornings over a 12 mth period.

[Karen A]

Hi Ivy.Yes it certainly worth contacting Parent Partnership to ask for advice.In our area the provide advice for pr-school children.

The Government does provide funding for places for 3-5 year olds however this may be in various places including nursery or playgroup.Children with Special Needs can be provided with extra suport in Nursery or Playgroup as an alternative to Specialist Provision.It may be worth asking whether your son could attend main stream LEA nursery or playgroup 3 mornings per week.

The National Autistic Society Website has information on schools so it is worth having a look at the information provided to see whether any near you offer nursery places.Karen.